Jewish

We are deep in the trenches of Chanukah, a couple of big bashes under our belt. With weeks of prepping on appropriate gift receiving behavior, I’d venture to say my kids have been sufficiently gracious through our first two tests. (Read about my feelings of dread here) It didn’t hurt that I used bribery, or a reward system as I’d [...]

Comments Off     Continue Reading...

Yesterday marked the Jewish New Year. For the past thirty years of my life, I have spent the first day of Rosh Hashana at my grandma’s (a.k.a. Nana). We have a very specific ritual. We start in the morning at our respective temples, meet around noon at Nana and Poppy’s temple (to be properly paraded past their various friends), back [...]

3 comments     Continue Reading...

I was one of the first of my friends to have a baby. And so many of the things that are now so second nature to me, were so foreign and I didn’t have many close friends to look to that had gone through it first. So when Drew was first born, I shuttered at the thought of him having [...]

Comments Off     Continue Reading...

It’s not like I’m the first person to ever throw a party. It’s even less likely that I’m the first person to throw a birthday party at their house. But I may win the most crazy one while doing so. I’ve already been baking for weeks. The requirement being that everything must be “Gabby friendly.” Fortunately in the world of [...]

3 comments     Continue Reading...

Last Friday at sundown started Passover. This kick started a week of matzah, avoiding bread and bread products for a lot of Jewish people. There are other stipulations like avoiding corn syrup and yeast in things like beer too. The thing is, at the risk of sounding religious, G-d has been good to me. I am very blessed. And if [...]

3 comments     Continue Reading...

I’m not sure why Jews take pride in knowing which celebrities are Jewish but we just do. Maybe it’s because we exist in a world of non-Jews that sometimes we feel left out. And there’s clearly no shortage of Jews in Hollywood. We take pride in being amongst many that have a lot of talent – Adam Sandler has reminded [...]

2 comments     Continue Reading...

I grew up as what I endearingly call, a super jew. My Mom was the music teacher at my temple so I was always involved from a very young age. From religious school to Hebrew school, Jewish Overnight Camps and Temple Youth Groups, I really took it in. It became a central part of my identity. When it came time [...]

3 comments     Continue Reading...

One big present or eight little presents? For the majority of my childhood, I received eight presents for Chanukah (one gift per night). Of course the eight gifts weren’t huge – some were things like new pajamas, others were fun earrings or maybe even a book. My mom always made sure I had a gift each night to open. I [...]

2 comments     Continue Reading...

I, much like most people, love the holiday season. The lights sparkling along streets and shopping centers, the buzz of people coming and going, the joyful upbeat songs in stores, the whole thing is so uplifting. Drew, being three, is finally starting to pick up on the season. For the first time I am confronted with what Christmas means to [...]

Comments Off     Continue Reading...